Golf Events / Tareq Quiroz / 18 March 2009 /

Tareq Quiroz likes the look of a veteran with class on the PGA Tour this week.

I must be getting long in the tooth as I do nothing but shake my head and tut when I see yet another golf tournament on the calendar with a name change. I am sure sponsors never used to change as much as they do now, but these are difficult times and for such a big money sport event sponsorship is no flighty commitment. After last week's cracker at Doral we are off to Tampa Bay for the new and rather aptly named Transitions Championship.

The Course
This tournament under its many sponsors has actually only been on the PGA Tour circuit since 2000. That is not to say it isn't a good event as the venue is top-class. Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club is a great setting and the course isn't bad either. Anyone going here thinking they can push this course over as they did at Doral last week will be sadly mistaken. This is a tough place to make a score and is one of those strange courses where there are no real easy holes and no instantly definable hardest holes. Each hole has its problems but conversely is not that troublesome if you hit good shots. For a punter it really does set-up nicely for an in-running strategy.

The Favourite
There are no real surprises in the choice of market leader in this field. Jim Furyk has been a consistently top-class player for many years and has every right to expect to be the favourite. Would I back him? Probably not. He is currently trading at [12.5] and a full ten points shorter than any other player. That is all well and good if this is the Furyk from a couple of years ago, but he patently is not. Last year he was somewhat disappointing by his standards and slipped down to the number 13 in the world. Despite a good effort last week he is not for me and better value is to be had elsewhere this week.

The Next Best Bets
I tipped up Sean O'Hair last week and it is sorely tempting to do so again. He is in decent nick and is here to defend the title he won last year. A man in form with good course record would normally be right up my street but I just can't see the value in his current odds of [23.0]. I may just regret that on Sunday afternoon.

Of the principal contenders I have to edge towards Steve Stricker. He is in good shape at the moment and he must be confident of getting another tournament win pretty soon. It is not the strongest field you will ever find on the PGA Tour and he is one of the few class acts on show. There are no doubts about his current form unlike many others so he represents the sensible choice at odds of around [30.0].

I can't however leave this section without pointing out that I will be having the Spaniard Alvaro Quiros in my staking plan this week. This course suits big hitters and there will be none longer than he this week. In the form of his life and rapidly rising up the world rankings he must be given serious consideration at odds of [65.0].

The Massive Outsider
I am not averse to getting stuck into a good selection of outsiders and this tournament gives me ample opportunity to just that. We will start with a classic golfing caricature: a player who has shown sheer quality in the past but no real form for a good while, and that man is Stuart Appleby. If this guy had shown any form this year he would be in the top four or five favourites for this tournament but instead he is trading at [120.0]. A consistently top player for many years he doesn't strike me as being the kind of guy who will just let his game go completely. He will be back and it may just be this week.

The other kind of outsider with a chance is the guy who plays one or two great events every couple of years. Not for the first time this year Ryan Moore fits that bill and is worth a small saver this week at odds of around [330.0].

Interesting Info
Of the previous seven winners of this event it is good to see that six of them have made the effort to incorporate this event into their schedule. The Australians are always well represented but more so than ever this week with as many as 16 in the field. We have major winners from the last three decades in the field as well as the last two Masters winners as they prepare for another assault on the rapidly approaching first major of the year.

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